After talking with a former colleague yesterday about the upcoming STAAR Writing test for Texas fourth graders, I decided to take this idea and put it in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

My students always struggled with the revision questions on the test, and it was because they had difficulty recognizing sentence fragments and run-on sentences. I came up with the idea of SOS. Students are given a set of three "sentences." They have to identify whether each one is a fragment, a run on, or a whole sentence. Then they have to fix the fragment, repair the run on, and spot the sentence.

We did this every Friday for several months before the test, and my students aced the revising questions. An added bonus was that I saw a lot fewer fragments and run ons in their essays.

One of the lessons I always tried to teach my students was about having empathy and showing kindness towards others. Valentine's Day offered the perfect opportunity to do so.

This is one of my favorite books. (Clicking on the link will take you to Amazon, where you can purchase the book. Note - I get a very small commission when you use my link to purchase, but it doesn't cost you anything.)

I loved reading the book to my students. They could easily identify with Mr. Hatch since there were times when all of them had felt lonely. We talked about how he felt after he received the anonymous gift.

Then I talked about how wonderful it felt for us to get Valentines from our classmates and our friends, how that made us feel loved. I said I loved the Valentines I got from my class, but that not all the adults in the school had a homeroom class to give them Valentines. We brainstormed a list of everyone that might be in that position - custodians, people who worked in the front office, cafeteria workers, teachers who provide pull-out services. Then each student selected one of the people from the list and made a special Valentine for them. We decided to sign them with this closing - From Someone Who Loves You. We thought that might make them think of all the people in the school who truly cared about them, like Mr. Hatch did.

At the end of the day, I slipped the Valentines into the mailboxes of the people who were to receive them. I lingered in the area so that I could hear any comments made and relay them to the students. My class was so excited to hear that they had a hand in making some of our special employees feel the Valentine's love.

If you try this with your students, please let me know. It will make me feel loved.

We hosted some of our good friends for a game night a few weeks ago. We have played Taboo, Loaded Questions, Cards Against Humanity, and some other games in the past, so I wanted to try something new. I put my Google skills to work and located a game called Fish Bowl! It was a blast!We started off the evening with food. We set up a make-your-own-chalupa bar and our guests brought an appetizer or a dessert. While we were eating and chatting, I told everyone to take 3 slips of paper I had cut in advance and write the name of a famous person everyone in the room should know on each slip. Then they folded them up and put them in a bowl.When we were ready to play, we divided up into two teams. This game has three rounds.Round 1: Taboo
Team A needs to select someone to go first, while Team B needs a volunteer to
watch the timer (set at one minute). We used the timer on someone's phone. The person from Team A grabs a piece
of paper from the container and tries to have his/her teammates guess the word on
the paper using only words and sentences as hints, without using any
motions, "sounds like..." hints, or spelling hints. The person tries to
have their team guess as many words as they can in one minute. It's important for both teams to pay attention because you need to remember the guessed words/phrases for subsequent rounds.

If the team is unable to guess the word/phrase, the person has
the option to "pass", put the word/phrase back into the container
and continues with a new word/phrase. The person can only pass once during
his/her one minute.

After one minute, Team A counts the number of successfully
guessed words/phrases. Each guessed word/phrase counts as one point. Team B is
next, and selects a volunteer from their team to start. A person from Team A
will watch the timer, set at one minute. This alternating process
continues until all of the words from the container have been used. When the words run
out, place all the words/phrases back into the container for the second round.

Round 2: Password

Following the same process as the first round, the next team will
select someone to go first, while the other team sets the timer for one minute.
However, in this round, the person can use only one word as a hint for their
team to guess. The team needs to recall the words/phrases in the previous
round. Once all the words in the container run out, place all the words back
into the container for the third round.Round 3: CharadesIn this final round, the person needs to act and use
motions as hints for their team to guess the word/phrase. You are not allowed to speak or make sounds. When all the words
run out, tally all the points. The team with the most points wins the game.We had a blast playing the game. Some of the names in the bowl included Kim Kardashian, Hitler, Tim Duncan (plays for our local NBA team, the Spurs), our much-detested former school superintendent, and Albert Einstein.After we finished the game (my team won!), we talked about ways this game could be played in classrooms. You could use vocabulary words for the words in the bowl. Wouldn't it be fun to play with the names of people you honored during Black History Month? What about science or math concepts? Spelling words? Let me know in the comments if you think of a great way to implement this!I've made a freebie for you with the directions. You can download it here. Have fun!

Can
you believe January is over and it's time for another Currently? I didn't do
very well with my resolution to blog more, did I. Sigh. Well, anyway, here is
my contribution to the linky.

I am listening to reruns of The Big Bang Theory. It is probably my most favorite show. I always watch reruns of it if there isn't something new on that I am dying to see.

I am loving that the primaries have started. I have very strong opinions about politics. Don't worry, I won't share them here.

I'm thinking about the Krispy Kreme doughnut I just scarfed down. We went to a birthday dinner for a good friend, and the restaurant happened to be near a KK store. I am powerless to resist when the light is on. The struggle is real, y'all.

I am wanting to empty out the storage unit I am still paying rent on. I'm embarrassed to say that it's been half done for quite a while now. First it was too hot, then it was too cold. We have beautiful weather right now, so I need to be like Goldilocks and get it done.

I am needing a clean house. Again. Ugh. I just don't understand Why won't it stay clean after I get it done. We are having a few people over to watch the Super Bowl, so that is giving me motivation.

I'm swooning over all the new blog designs out there. I just took the plunge and asked Kristen from Chalk & Apples Design to give mine a makeover. I'm loving the sleek, modern approach.

Okay, it's your turn! Go on over to Farley's blog and check out some of the other folks who linked up!